Too many of our nation's children experience violence and trauma every day—in their homes, schools, and communities. Trauma left unaddressed can have serious consequences for children and youth as they grow up. In commemoration of National Child Abuse Prevention Month and National Crime Victims' Rights Week, the Office for Victims of Crime is pleased to announce the release of the next four videos in the Through Our Eyes: Children, Violence, and Trauma series.

This series now includes eight videos, accompanying resource guides, and public awareness posters—the most recent videos highlight intervention in schools, innovations in juvenile justice, addressing violence in the home, and a call to action on how you can help a child in need.

Together, the materials in the Through Our Eyes campaign reinforce four key messages:

Children's exposure to violence and victimization is significant.

These experiences can leave lasting effects.

There are effective ways to protect children and alleviate the harm of exposure.

Everyone has a role.

Through your work as a child-serving professional, every day you encounter children who are exposed to violence, and we hope this series will continue to support your efforts. Watch the videos in this series and read the associated resource guides for innovative solutions to serving children affected by violence and trauma in their schools, homes, and communities. Use this series to train your colleagues and allied pro-fessionals, and advocate for child victims of violence and trauma. You can make a difference in the life of a child.

Laurel Kiser, Carla Smith Stover, Carryl Navalta, Joyce Dorado, Juliet Vogel, Jaleel Adbul-Adil, Soeun Kim, Robert Lee, Rebecca Vivrette, and Ernestine Briggs are the authors of Effects of the Child-Perpetrator Relationship on Mental Health Outcomes of Child Abuse: It's (Not) All Relative published in Child Abuse & Neglect (available online only). The present study was conducted to better understand the influence of the child-perpetrator relationship on responses to child sexual and physical trauma for a relatively large, ethnically diverse sample of children and youth presenting for clinical evaluation and treatment at child mental health centers across the United States. The sample included 2,133 youth with sexual or physical trauma as their primary treatment focus. Analyses were conducted to ascertain whether outcomes were dependent on the perpetrator's status as a caregiver vs. non-caregiver. Outcome measures included psychiatric symptom and behavior problem rating scales. For sexual trauma, victimization by a non-caregiver was associated with higher posttraumatic stress, internalizing and externalizing behavior problems, depression, and dissociation compared to youth victimized by a caregiver. For physical trauma, victimization by a non-caregiver was also associated with higher posttraumatic symptoms and internalizing behavior problems. The total number of trauma types experienced and age of physical or sexual trauma onset also predicted several outcomes for both groups, although in disparate ways. These findings are consistent with other recent studies demonstrating that perpetration of abuse by caregivers results in fewer symptoms and problems than abuse perpetrated by a non-caregiving relative. Thus, clinicians should not make a priori assumptions that children and adolescents who are traumatized by a parent/caregiver would have more severe symptoms than youth who are traumatized by a non-caregiver. Further exploration of the role of the perpetrator and other trauma characteristics associated with the perpetrator role is needed to advance our understanding of these findings and their implications for clinical practice.

Courtenay Cavanaugh, Silvia Martins, Hanno Petras, and Jacqueline Campbell have authored Mental Disorders Associated with Subpopulations of Women Affected by Violence and Abuse in Journal of Trau-matic Stress (Volume 26, Issue 4). Violence against women is a major public health problem associated with mental disorders. Few studies have examined the heterogeneity of interpersonal violence and abuse (IVA) among women and associated mental health problems. Latent class analysis was used to identify subpopulations of women with similar lifetime histories of IVA victimization and to examine ten associated past-year mental disorders. Participants were 19,816 adult women who participated in Wave 2 of the Na-tional Epidemiologic Study on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC). The 3-class model was best supported by the data. Class 1 (6.7%) had a high probability of witnessing domestic violence as a child. Class 2 (21.8%) had a low probability of all events except lifetime sexual assault. Class 3 (71.5%) had a low probability for all events. Mental disorders were more common among members of Classes 1 and 2 than Class 3. For example, members in Class 1 were approximately eight and nine times more likely than members in Class 3 to have had PTSD or a drug use disorder, respectively, during the past year. Of the ten mental disorders, five were more common among members of Class 1 than of Class 2. Findings suggest the mental health consequences of IVA among women are extensive and interventions should be tailored for distinct subpopulations affected by IVA.

Presenters will discuss how to work with families and their schools to advocate for a child or youth who identifies as LGBTQ.

Upcoming Events

The National AIA Resource Center, Children and Family Futures, and the Institute for Health and Recovery are the sponsors for the upcoming Sup-porting Children Affected by Parental Co-occurring Disorders: Substance Abuse, Mental Illness, HIV Symposium June 30—July 2, 2014. Attend a national symposium to help formulate an informed response to address the needs of children whose parents have co-occurring disorders. Increase your knowledge of these children's needs and circumstances. Learn practical methods and strategies for enhancing protective factors and adapting your agency's policies and practices. Keynote speakers include Robert Anda, MD, Cheryl Pratt, PhD, Linda Scruggs, MHS, and Nancy Young, PhD.